The Tayshas Reading List is a recommended reading list developed by public and school librarians from the Young Adult Round Table (YART). The purpose of the list is to encourage students in grades 9-12 to explore a variety of current books for recreational reading. Click here to view the full Tayshas list or download a copy here.

Happy #ewgcya day, YA librarians! Check out our latest & greatest teen titles out this month, then join us today at 4pm EST for Early Word YA Galley Chat (hashtag: #ewgcya) and tell us what you’ve been reading and loving.

THE BEST POSSIBLE ANSWER by E. Katherine KottarasAges 12 to 17
A contemporary YA novel about ultra-high-achiever Viviana Rabinovich-Lowe, whose quest for perfection comes to a screeching halt when her boyfriend leaks racy pictures of her to the entire school. Making matters worse, her parents are getting divorced. Through it all, Viv learns something they never covered in her AP courses: that loving yourself is more important than trying to be perfect. “A sensitive novel about accepting imperfection.” — Kirkus Reviews

WE ARE STILL TORNADOES by Michael Kun & Susan MullenAges 12 to 18
In this debut romance set in 1982, best friends Scott and Cath remain pen pals throughout their freshman year of college. That is, until they start to realize that maybe friends is not all they are to each other…but can they make a relationship work off the page and in real life? “Readers aching for a combination of the ’80s and a romance like Rainbow Rowell’s ELEANOR & PARK will be stoked to find this wicked, gnarly, and totally righteous novel.” — Booklistreadmoreremove

Today Talia highlighted her favorite teen titles during Booklist‘s YA Announcements: Fall 2016 webinar. For those who weren’t able to listen in, here are the boss lady’s top picks, including many diverse books (#wndb):

Our list of favorite forthcoming 2016 teen titles collected all in one place, just for you and your teen patrons is finally here. In addition to the always-exciting selection from Griffin Teen (including new books from David Levithan and Stephanie Perkins), keep an eye out for YA debuts IF I WAS YOUR GIRL and AMERICAN GIRLS from Flatiron Books.

But first, make sure that you’re pre-approved on Edelweiss to download all of our available e-galleys. Click here to find out how to be whitelisted.

Our super-cool “Books for Teens Twenty-SixTEEN” poster is now available!

You’re in for a treat because this year’s poster is double-sided—flip it over and color your own CARRY ON book jacket! Click here to download a copy or email us to request a hard copy (don’t forget to include your mailing address).Now on to the books, starting with Flatiron YA!

IF I WAS YOUR GIRL by Meredith Russo**TWO STARRED REVIEWS** Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school in Lambertville, Tennessee. Like anyone else, she wants to make friends and fit in, but she has a secret. When she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, she can’t help but let him in. As they spend more time together, she finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells the truth, no one will be able to see past it. Because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? At her old school, she used to be Andrew.

“Russo has written a story that many trans teens—and adults—have been wanting: a sweet, believable romance that stokes the fires of hope without devolving into saccharine perfection or horrific tragedy. Above all, this is a necessary, universal story about feeling different and enduring prejudices, and it’s full of love, hope, engaging writing, and truth.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

AMERICAN GIRLS by Allison Umminger***THREE STARRED REVIEWS!***When fifteen-year-old Anna “borrows” her family’s credit card and runs away to L.A. to crash with her half-sister, she has to work to pay her way home. Her sister’s creepy ex-boyfriend hires Anna for a seriously macabre research project for his indie film: to research the murderous Manson girls. This is not quite the summer Anna had in mind, but it may just be the one that she needs to understand and accept her family, and herself, in a new way.

“Setting her tale against the glittery, gritty backdrop of modern-day Los Angeles, the author deftly weaves together multiple story strands to create a razor-sharp commentary on our culture, observed with keen wit from the perspective of one honest and complex American girl. An insightful, original take on the coming-of-age story, this novel plumbs the depths of American culture to arrive at a poignant emotional truth.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Debut author Umminger’s humor is biting (“My family was clearly the place where optimism went to die”), yet it reveals richly complicated relationships among mothers, daughters, and sisters. Umminger crafts a Los Angeles both glittering and soulless, leading to Anna’s realization that she may have more in common with the Manson girls than she thought, but it’s the choices she makes that set her apart.”— Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Bittersweet and true, Anna’s journey to self-discovery is one that should be widely read.” — Booklist, starred review

CARRY ON by Rainbow RowellA 2016 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults selection! Rainbow Rowell continues to break boundaries with CARRY ON, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller FANGIRL.

“…irresistible and surprisingly tender, but the true strength here is the characterizations… Stock up on copies—this one begs to be reread.”
— Booklist, starred review

“…this book can be read as a tribute to Harry Potter and Lev Grossman’s Magicians series, and it’s a sterling example of how to use genre conventions to create something new. The funny, wised-up dialogue, the tumultuous, sweet, and sexy love story is grade-A Rowell…readers will find [this] almost impossible to put down. — Publishers Weekly, starred review

BREAKAWAY by Kat SpearsAlso available in trade paperbackA 2016 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee! From the author of the YALSA 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults pick, SWAY (now available in trade paperback), comes a new novel that asks the question: when a group of four best friends begins to drift apart, what will it take to bring them back together? BREAKAWAY received two starred reviews, including this one from Booklist: “A painfully honest and powerful depiction of the changing nature of friendships in the face of hardship and an exploration of what it means ‘to be human and alive.’”

DREAM THINGS TRUE by Marie MarquardtA 2016 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers Nominee! A modern-day Romeo and Juliet story in which a wealthy Southern boy falls in love with an undocumented Mexican girl and together face their hostile Georgia town. “Readers seeking a star-crossed love story with a twist won’t be disappointed.” — Publishers Weekly

THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS by Anna-Marie McLemoreA 2016 YALSA Morris Award Finalist & Best Fiction for Young Adults selection!The Night Circus meets Romeo and Juliet in this stunning young adult novel about two teens from rival traveling performer families who fall in love despite the almost impossible odds against them. “McLemore’s prose is ethereal and beguiling… The enchanting setup and the forbidden romance that blooms…will quickly draw readers in, along with the steady unspooling of the families’ history and mutual suspicions in this promising first novel.” — Publishers Weekly

THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS by Anna-Marie McLemore (ages 14-18) will be available in trade paperback on September 26, 2017.

WHEN THE MOON WAS OURS by Anna-Marie McLemoreLonglisted for the2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literatureandthree starred reviews! From Morris Award finalist Anna-Marie McLemore comes a second stunning novel tinged with magic, about a girl with roses that grow from her wrist who happens to be hiding the truth, a boy with past secrets who paints moons and hangs them in trees, and four sisters rumored to be witches, who could ruin them both. “With luminous prose infused with Latino folklore and magical realism, this mixes fairy-tale ingredients with the elegance of a love story, with all of it rooted in a deeply real sense of humanity. Lovely, necessary, and true.”
— Booklist, starred review